But there may be trouble on the horizon. In a news release Thursday, Parks and Wildlife warned of rising detections of a new algae bloom, Dinophysisin Port Aransas. While the bloom is not toxic like red tide, it is consumed by oysters and makes them inedible, according to the department. While that bay is not open to harvesting, the algae has also been found further up the coast.

An artificial reef dome is helping to restore oysters in Galveston Bay, Texas.

Parks and Wildlife recently added 59 “concrete artificial reef domes” to a one acre patch of a restored oyster reef in East Galveston Bay. “Each dome was individually placed on the site using a crane on a construction barge,” the department says. The domes help attract fish and oyster larvae, they say, which will help “facilitate studies on oyster density and fish utilization.”

It’s all part of a larger program at the department over the last fifteen years, which helps both the oyster and fish populations. While Texas oysters are currently struggling to overcome the effects of the drought, they were also badly damaged by sediment kicked up by Hurricane Ike in 2008, the department says. They’ve now restored about 200 acres of oyster reefs in Galveston Bay.